The robins are very visible in the garden at the moment, partly because there are at least four of them and they spend more time chasing each other than feeding off the rich selection of food we offer, and partly because of their red bibs.
Few of the other birds, with the possible exception of the male chaffinches, are as colourful, and they don't compare with....
....many of the birds we encountered in Tanzania, the country boasting somewhere around 1,200 species including this little bee eater.
The bee eater and this brown hooded kingfisher were both near the swimming pool at one of the lodges where we stayed - the kingfisher is perched on the shower. They were waiting for us to go away so they could access the pool of muddy water under the shower. So many birds came to it....
....including this weaver bird, that I suggested to the managers that, if they made a proper bird bath, easily done with a barrow-load of concrete, they would probably attract a host of beautiful birds for the pleasure of their customers. They said they would but, sadly, we never returned so we don't know whether they did.
Startlingly coloured birds were everywhere. This lilac-breasted roller was in the middle of the bush and I was thrilled to see it as the species was one of the birds I remembered from my childhood.
It seems unfair that so many of Tanzania's small birds are brilliantly coloured while most of ours are rather.... dull. Imagine repainting our birds, starting with our common house sparrows and doing them up in vibrant reds and yellows and oranges!
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